Allegations of abuse at aged care facility

Reporter: Margot O'Neill

TONY JONES: In the course of researching our sexual abuse story, Lateline was also told about serious allegations of mistreatment in another facility, a specialist dementia unit in Victoria. Margot O'Neill interviewed a former carer at the unit, who asked that her identity be protected. Her claims are chilling. They raise questions about systematic management cover ups and bullying, as well as the integrity of the Federal Government's accreditation and complaints system. In a moment we'll hear from that whistleblower. But first I'm joined now from Melbourne by Lillian Jeter who interviewed the whistleblower and two other carers from the dementia unit. Lillian Jeter, as we heard earlier in Margot's story, founded the Australian Elder Abuse Prevention Association. Thanks for being there.

TONY JONES: Now, the range of abuses that these three women have told you about are absolutely staggering. First of all, set out what they have in fact alleged, broadly?

LILLIAN JETER: Well first of all, I want to say that the three of them came to me. They were absolutely distressed. These are carers that have been in aged care for quite a long time. So they're not new to the system at all. They said that not only was there physical abuse with the pinning and the restraining of that particular female resident. She was hearing impaired, she was also blind. They put her and forced her into the chair that she was in and threw her across by the chair, through the dining room, to humiliate her in front of the other residents. She is a dementia resident along with the other residents. And then, later when she was very quiet, they went with her, with water bottles and then they used the water bottles...

TONY JONES: Lillian, can I interrupt you there, because we will hear her making that story. But in general terms, they're talking about a range of abuse, aren't they? I mean, there are things like soiled sheets left for weeks on end, people left without care for very long periods - a whole range of things like that.

LILLIAN JETER: Not only that, Tony. There was also one gentleman who was forced into the shower. He's naked, they're forcing him and taking control of him. There's also faeces that are smeared on the walls of the facility. There's a lot of questionable safety issues with the keys going missing to that facility for a long time. Intimidation, fear, harassment, harassment of the employees. These are carers that are trying to do the right thing for dementia residents.

TONY JONES: These are very, very serious allegations.

LILLIAN JETER: They are very serious allegations.

TONY JONES: Some of the most serious we've actually heard. Why do you trust these women?

LILLIAN JETER: Because I was in their presence, because they called me. They called me as a group. They were first, especially one was a little bit distrustful of me and what could I do. During the time I was there with the three of them, one of them broke down in front of me and had to be restrained and cared for by another one of the carers. They were so upset at what is going trying to do their best as carers, but because of the management, because of the culture, they cannot do what they want to do - what they need to do.

TONY JONES: Let's hear now from one of them. At her request we have protected her identity. Let's have a listen to some of what she had said.

AGED CARE WORKER: A staff member plus another member, one afternoon with this same woman, squirted a water bottles at this woman, antagonise behaviours, just because why not? It's fun.

REPORTER: Describe what they were doing?

AGED CARE WORKER: In the kitchen this woman was seated in a chair, walked by with a water bottle and squirted water at this woman.

REPORTER: In her face?

AGED CARE WORKER: On her face, on her body and it happened more than once. I believe it was twice or three times that it has happened. The person that saw it a second time mentioned it to the manager. Nothing was done, there was no reprimand, there was no nothing. And this person that has also seen other instances go on is now afraid to say anything. When she has in the past, our manager currently there just says, "Don't worry about it, it will be fine."

REPORTER: They look, they sound like horrifying instances, they were the worst ones you saw against these woman. Were there one-offs?

AGED CARE WORKER: This particular woman was antagonised continually to upset behaviours. The culture, I believe, the reason behind it is to medicate residents so that they are just sitting doing nothing and therefore they don't have to actually attend to them, care for them.

REPORTER: Oh my gosh. So what you're saying is that they bring on bad behaviour, so they have an excuse. So then they don't have to...

AGED CARE WORKER: To make them worse, because then I can either have them transferred to a nursing home or they're medicated to the point that they're just blubbering messes, sitting there doing nothing and I don't have to look after them.

REPORTER: Did you see that very much?

AGED CARE WORKER: In the facility, in this particular facility, it was starting to happen before I left more and more and you feel you have - you can't do anything. You have no recourse to say anything. Because if you do say anything, you are then bullied by management, from right up, the head office right the way down. You have no recourse. There is nowhere - you put in reports and say that this is happening. Nothing is ever done. It disappears never to be seen again.

REPORTER: What's the key problem in the facilities?

AGED CARE WORKER: The lack of care, care encompasses a lot. Care of staff, care of residents, care of property, that a company that prides itself on caring for people and valuing people is not. These people, these residents deserve better than what they are getting and to be put to bed early for no reason - when I mean early, five o'clock in the afternoon, laying in bed all night, not moving literally.

REPORTER: Why?

AGED CARE WORKER: Because some of these people when they go to bed, their dementia is so advanced that they do not move once they go to bed.

REPORTER: Why do they have to go to bed so early?

AGED CARE WORKER: They don't, but so the staff don't have to care for them.

TONY JONES: Lillian Jeter, back to you. Let me ask you this - do the carers, the three women you've spoken to, all back each other's accounts on these kind of allegations?

LILLIAN JETER: Yes, they were all in the room with me together. They all verified the same accounts. They had been there at different times. They had been at the facility for a long period of time - and as I said before they were also in aged care. It's not their first assignment to age care. One of them's mother had actually been in age care and now she followed into age care. All of them prided themselves on being very professional and doing the best for the residents, and especially in this case the dementia residents and their families too. They care very much for their families and the fear and the intimidation. That the families feel that if they take them out of that facility, where else are they going to put them? So they keep them in the facility - they really are in a catch 22 situation.

TONY JONES: I should interrupt here to say we have had a short response from the Health Department, a spokesperson for the Health Department tonight, in fact, on behalf of the federal Minister for Aged Care. They're saying these allegations have been investigated and that no issues of abuse were substantiated. Are you aware of that investigation?

LILLIAN JETER: The only investigation that I know about, sir, is my personally taking the case file and the allegations from the carers to the Aged Care Accreditation Standards Agency before I left after a meeting with one of their managers, my question was, "What are you going to do now?" They said, "We will act upon this immediately." About two months later, I found out that a spot check was done and then they reported back to me upon my asking them to. I had to go back to them and they reported back to me at that point, later at the end of January, and they said that they did not really find anything untoward at that facility.

TONY JONES: We'll come back to that in a minute. First of all, let's hear again from our whistleblower. Because she's made a very specific allegation about a period of time, a number of days, when patients were given the wrong medication.

REPORTER: In the cases when medications have been mixed up and you told us a terrible story where people were left on the wrong medication for four days...

AGED CARE WORKER: Yes.

REPORTER: ...quite dangerous to their health. You made reports on this matter. What were you told by the manager of the facility in relation to those reports?

AGED CARE WORKER: The words that were told to me by the acting manager at the time that came in to deal with this incident was, "This will not be discussed with anybody."

REPORTER: Were the families told?

AGED CARE WORKER: The families have never, to my knowledge, been actually told what happened. One of the family members came up to me on more than one occasion and said, "What happened?" And I had to say, "I do not know, I'm sorry, I cannot help you. Ask the manager. I don't know, they haven't told us what happened." I could not tell these people what had really happened.

REPORTER: How do you feel about that now?

AGED CARE WORKER: It still upsets me to this day that I couldn't be honest and up front about what happened. Mistakes happen at all times. We're only human. But to try and make it right - it still upsets me now and it always will I think.

TONY JONES: Lillian Jeter, back to you again. Have you considered whether these three women have grievances against the institution that are essentially making up these allegations?

LILLIAN JETER: Sir, I have no doubt in my mind that what they say is absolutely true. I have no doubt in my mind that they care for all of the residents in that particular facility and that they were very disheartened - one of them to leave the facility or to even leave the shift - and leave them in the hands of those carers that couldn't care less about the residents. I also want to point out that some of the carers in question, not the ones that reported to me, but the ones doing the actual mistreatment are specifically dementia-specific trained. And if this is what dementia-trained means, to work in a dementia facility, then that's very shameful indeed.

TONY JONES: That is, of course, if the allegations are true - they are untested at this stage. And as we've heard, the Health Department is saying the allegations were investigated. Why are these women protecting their identity? Are they prepared to come forward at some point and reveal who they are and make these allegations publicly?

AGED CARE WORKER: I'm not sure about that, sir. That, of course, would be on their own shoulders. They still work in age care. They plan to continue their careers in age care and I would hope that they would stay in aged care, because they're the types of careers that we need, not the ones that mistreat or abuse or harass or threaten.

TONY JONES: Very briefly, we're nearly out of time, what do you think should happen now?

AGED CARE WORKER: I think there should be an investigation, not only of that particular facility but we're getting - the association, the Elder Abuse Prevention Association, every single day I get more cases and more carers and more complaints coming from not only residential care but community care. So this is not one facility, it's many across the board. And obviously, there's problems behind closed doors.

TONY JONES: Lillian Jeter, we'll have to leave you there, we thank you very much for coming in to talk to us tonight.